With zucchini blossoms you can make many tasty and clever recipes. Today I prepared these tempting and very easy egg-free bread bites. Perfect also as finger-food appetizers, the bread bites with zucchini blossoms are a zero-waste recipe: they come in handy for using up stale bread in a tasty and practical way. Make them to accompany aperitifs or a Saturday night dinner. They are delicious on their own or with sauces and creams on the side. Whether you call them bread balls or bites, the important thing is that they are soft inside, tasty, fun, and can be eaten in one bite.
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Cooking time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: 30-40
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 9.7 oz stale white or whole wheat bread (about 10 slices)
- 15 pitted green olives
- 15 zucchini blossoms
- 7 oz boiled potatoes (about 1 cup mashed)
- 2 tablespoons grated table cheese
- to taste spices
- to taste salt and pepper
- to taste breadcrumbs
Preparation
Boil the potatoes with the skin on until they are tender when pierced with a fork. Peel them and mash them into a puree.
Pit the olives and grate the cheese (you can also use a mix of Pecorino and Parmigiano).
Slice the bread, place it in a large bowl and moisten it with a full glass of water, making sure all the bread gets well soaked. If necessary, add more water, but not too much, because the bread should be soft but not completely mushy. The crust pieces should be moistened a bit more since they’re tougher.
Let the bread soak for about 20 minutes, then squeeze it with your hands.
In the same bowl put the mashed boiled potatoes (warm is fine), the pitted and chopped olives, the zucchini blossoms washed, squeezed and torn into pieces with your hands, the grated cheese, salt, pepper and spices (curry, basil, etc…).
Knead with your hands until you obtain a firm, homogeneous and well-blended mixture. Since the mixture does not contain raw eggs, you can taste it to check the seasoning.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and start forming your bread balls, rolling them in breadcrumbs and placing them on the sheet as you go.
You can shape and size the bread bites as you like. The ones in the photo weigh about 0.5 to 0.9 oz each (approximately 15 to 25 g).
Preheat the oven and set it to 338°F.
When the oven is hot, bake the bread bites in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes or until they become golden.
The bread bites with zucchini blossoms are good both hot and cold and can be stored for a couple of days at most, well sealed in a tin or glass container.
